


Don't

by abetternameneeded



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26452687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abetternameneeded/pseuds/abetternameneeded
Summary: Rogers worries about arresting Tilly. Something tells him he shouldn't.
Relationships: Wishverse Captain Hook | Detective Rogers & Alice Jones | Tilly
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Don't

"In the eyes of the law, that's motive."

So maybe Tilly had a reason to kill the baker. Maybe she had the weapon to do it. If she was dedicated enough she could have hurt her with the scalpel. But Tilly hadn't seemed like she could stay focused on anything for long, let alone murder, at the hospital. Maybe she had a history of violence. But that was off the books. A secret. Detective Weaver had clearly been lying to protect the girl. And if someone had cracked open the manipualtive detectives cold dead heart, there had to be a reason. But Rogers couldn't figure it out. He'd been given permission to try and clear Tilly's name. To stay her arrest. Not cancel. Stay. Postpone. And he really did 't want to arrest her not in a few hoirs, not in a few days, not ever. He had until nightfall. To find some shred of evkdebce that could reasonly cast doubt on her as the prime suspect in a murder. He wasn't sure why something felt so off about arresting the girl he didn't know.

He found her. She'd been avoiding him. He didn't blame her.

"You think I hurt her, detectice?"

"No. I don't think so. C'mon."

"Where we going?"

"Best you don't know until we're there."

Tilly went with him. She didn't seem to care what Henry Mills thought of her. But she seemed to care about rogers' thoughts. She had 't asked Henry if he thought she was a killer, she'd asked him.

She fell asleep. He tossed a blanket ober herm somrthing about it felt so natutal. So neccesary. Like je'd dome it a thousand times over but he'd never done that before.

She wome up. He told her to stay put. Something in him told him she wouldn't. That she couldn't. But he left her in Henry's apartment anyway.

The voice in his jead tried to tell him not to leave her alone. Something about that word scraped at his heart. He swore he could feel actual pain from it. But he was in perfect health. He worried for this girl. More than he'd ever worried for Eloise. But somehow he knw Tully would 't be like eloise. His care for her was right, not a trick brought on by some kind of manipulation. It was right.

Henry and Rogers went looking for clues. He almost expected tilly to leave her post. How he knew so much about some e he'd know. at best a few weeks was beyond him. Had their been whsipers around the station? That must have been it. She did visit Weaver a lot more than mlst condifidential informants tended to. As long as she stayed out of trouble, Rogers was fine with it. He scoksed himself [she's an adult and you're not her bloody father.]

They duck into an alley. They talk. They find her backpack and go back to Henry's apartment. The door was left unlocked. Figures, they'd not left her a key.

And then the killer's trophies are extracted from tilly's backpack. And Rogers doesn't understand. Tilly's not a killer. But it doesn't matter. She looks like one. And worse, she feels like one. He tries to talk to her. But he can't seem to reach the part kf her that knows deep down she's not a murderer. And then she's gone. And maybe secretly he's glad. Because for a few more precious moments, he foesn't have to handcuff her. He debates if he can get away with bringing her in without them. Something about it feels wrong, cruel even. And he doesn't want to. He catches up to her. And he almost talks to the troll too once she points out the security camera. He can't bring hinself to make her ride in the back. Where the doors only open from the outside and the windows don't work.

"Ride up front," he offers.

"Detective, I'm wanted for murder. Not sure that's allowed."

"I don't bloody care."

And she does. And he wonders. Why does he feel so strongly. Is she afraid of something? Can he sense it? But he doesn't ask. If she's scared if small spaces, there's no guarantee that the security footage proves anything. He hopes it does.

And then jt does. She pauses to say something to him. But she doesn't. She walks away. Maybe he'll ask her. He worries. A pit in his stomach deeper than he's ever felt. Tilly's not safe. Not i. that box car. Not in the world. Alone. There it was again. Alone. He had to do something. He was going to do something. He wants to take her in. And hopes she'll except but knows she may not trust him. May not want tk stay with anyone. He doesn't know why she lived on the street. He hadn't asked. He knew she'd lost her father. But he offers anyway. The worst she can say is no.

He tells her the boxcar isn't safe a d she says she doesn't have anywhere else. And so he gives her the somewhere else. And she gets settled. He notices the stuffed rabbit she has. It looks familiar somehow but he knows he's never seem it before.

"I've had a weird feeling," Rogers admits. "Are you claustrophobic or anything?"

"Very," tilly admits. "Always have been. Don't know why."

And it's strange. He notices that she does 't lock the dll behind her. That she often forgets to close the bathroom door. And he thanks his mind for screaming at him not to dare to actually arrest her.


End file.
